Goals beyond grass at Whittington House

Whittington House nursing home in Cheltenham welcomed Goals Beyond Grass for the afternoon. Goals Beyond Grass provides power chair football sessions to schools, colleges and universities. The chance to experience this fast, dynamic team sport is not available anywhere else. Their aim is to raise awareness of the sport and in turn produce more players, coaches and fundraisers for local clubs.We emptied a dining room of tables leaving chairs around the edge of the room for people to just watch or wanting to take part. Brian and Kieran from the company introduced themselves and put everyone at ease ensuring that the chairs were perfectly safe, that they would be on hand at all times to assist but above all they were keen for everyone to have fun.A few residents were reluctant to participate because for a lot of them doing something independently takes a lot of courage and can be quite daunting. However, once they saw how much fun people were they were hooked and all wanted a go! Kieran walked alongside them controlling the power chair when he needed to, giving clear and concise instructions helping the residents score goals.This activity gave the residents a quiet determination to succeed and to try hard and it was wonderful to see the look of sheer delight on at their faces at what they had achieved. The Relatives and staff members had a go too which caused great hilarity at the lack of control and little or no coordination, blamed of course on the high speeds Kieran had set for them!It was a rewarding and fun afternoon and a Resident summed it up by saying “Did I really just do that? I’m amazed! I really didn’t think I could.”Goals Beyond Grass will be returning in November.Whittington House Nursing Home in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire is a modern, purpose-built home and provides residential, nursing and specialist dementia care for up to 66 people.If you would like to find out more about life at Whittington House, or would like to speak to a member of our team, please contact us on 0808 223 5396 or [email protected].